April 30, 2022
THE SELF-INQUIRY RAFFLE: Unleash Your Creative Mojo

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If you have a big aspiration to create something new and wonderful in this world and currently find yourself operating on less-than-all-cylinders, this is your lucky day.

WHY? Because I am giving away five of my mind-opening creativity catalysts for free -- as in no cost to you, no fine print, no strings attached. And YOU get to choose which ones you want.

I am launching this raffle because I want to, not because I have to. It is not a marketing ploy, gimmick, or sneaky way to get you to buy something from me. I'm doing this because I trust my intuition and know that the five people who WIN the raffle are going to get some major value from it and, PERHAPS, what they are here to manifest in the world will have a better chance of seeing the light of day.

There is no entry fee. I am not trying to collect your email address. (I have my own). There is nothing in it for me but the joy of conducting this little experiment.

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To enter the raffle, all you need to do is send an email to me (mitch@ideachampions.com) with the words "Self-Inqury Raffle" in the subject line. Then, a week from now, I will pick five names out of the proverbial hat (my favorite hat, by the way) and let the five winners know they won.

What is a self-inquiry page? A simple, engaging, enjoyable way for you to pause, reflect, and (possibly) have a creative breakthrough on a committed project of yours. If you're stuck, the self-inquiry page will get you unstuck. If you're already unstuck, the self-inquiry page will accelerate your process of manifesting whatever dream, vision, or commitment you have.

Just to whet your appetite, here is a master list of self-inquiry pages you will be able to select from (assuming, of course, you are one of the five winners).

SELF-INQUIRY PAGES

1. Follow Your Calling
2. Discover Your Real Question
3. The Art of Self-Reflection
4. Clarify Your Vision
5. Dream Big with Blue Sky Thinking

6. Make More Time for Creativity
7. Everything Begins with an Idea
8. When and Where Do You Get Your Best Ideas?
9. This is It! Begin Now!
10. Just Say Know: It's OK to be Ignorant, But Only for a While

11. The Ten Characteristics of Highly Creative People
12. You Are on a Hero's Journey!
13. How to Get Out of the Box
14. Honor Your Crazy Ideas
15. Diffuse Your Inner Critic

16. Illuminate Your Blind Spots
17. Develop Your Own Natural Practice of Creativity
18. Overcoming Obstacles: How to Trick the Trickster
19. Go Beyond Your Limiting Assumptions
20. Find Your Natural Work Rhythm

21. Create the Space to Create
22. Act As If
23. The Art of Asking for Help
24. Embrace Messiness, Awkwardness, Frustration, and Difficulty
25. Take More Risks

26. Boundary Alert: How to Say "No"
27. Pilot! Experiment! Try Something New!
28. The Imperfection of Perfectionism
29. Simplify!
30. On Giving and Receiving Feedback

31. Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway
32. Putting the Moment Back Into Momentum
33. The Art of Self-Acknowledgment
34. Is It Really More Discipline You Need?
35. Incubate! Lay Fallow! Let It Be!

36. Attract More Support
37. Spark Your Imagination
38. Deal Wisely With Self-Doubt
39. See Through New Eyes
40. The Practice of Creativity is Like Gardening

41. Five Inspiring Creativity Videos
42. What Is the Impact of Noise in Your Life?
43. Immerse!
44. Cultivate Patience
45. Honor the Dance of Polarities

46. The Attraction of Distraction
47. The Socratic Method
48. Untangle the Hairball of Your Own Creative Potential
49. Nurture or Fracture: Dealing with Your Significant Other
50. How Rumi's Poetry Can Spark a Breakthrough for You

51. Create Creative Community
52. On Being a Creative Catalyst for Others
53. Perseverance Furthers
54. Redefine Success
55. How to Change the Old Story You're Telling Yourself

56. Maximize Your Focus and Attention
57. Navigate the Messy Middles
58. Make Friends with Uncertainty
59. Failure Is Not What You Think It Is
60. Real Creativity Requires Solitude

61. The Relationship Between AHA and HAHA
62. Liberate Your Subconscious Mind
63. Remove the Pressure of Time
64. How to Get Into the Flow
65. Creativity Is All About Making New Connections

66. On Being a Brainstorm Buddy
67. Radically Increase Your Odds of Success
68. How to Get in Sync With a Possible Collaborator
69. The Wisdom of Pablo Picasso
70. The Wisdom of Frank Zappa

71. The Wisdom of Steve Jobs
72. The Wisdom of Albert Einstein
73. The Wisdom of Ludwig von Beethoven
74. The Wisdom of Elon Musk
75. The Wisdom of Leonardo da Vinci

76. The Wisdom of Mahatma Gandhi
77. The Wisdom of Vincent Van Gogh
78. The Wisdom of Frieda Kahlo
79. The Wisdom of Nicolas Tesla
80. The Wisdom of Georgia O'Keeffe

81. The Wisdom of Amadeus Mozart
82. The Wisdom of Michelangelo
83. The Wisdom of John Lennon
84. The Wisdom of Martin Luther King

The creator of self-inquiry pages
50 awesome quotes on possibility
Photo: Peter Fogden, Unsplash

Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 05:20 PM | Comments (2)

We Were Made for These Times!

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What follows is an extraordinary call of the heart by Clarissa Pinkola Estes. Not only is it worth reading, it's worth reading aloud -- so you hear it and feel it as well as see it. Then, you get to decide who you want to share it with -- and how. This is a piece of deep, soul-inspired, primal writing that deserves to travel to every corner of the Earth.

"My friends, do not lose heart. We were made for these times. I have heard from so many recently who are deeply and properly bewildered. They are concerned about the state of affairs in our world now. Ours is a time of almost daily astonishment and often righteous rage over the latest degradations of what matters most to civilized, visionary people.

You are right in your assessments. The luster and hubris some have aspired to while endorsing acts so heinous against children, elders, everyday people, the poor, the unguarded, the helpless, is breathtaking. Yet, I urge you, ask you, gentle you, to please not spend your spirit dry by bewailing these difficult times. Especially do not lose hope. Most particularly because, the fact is that we were made for these times. Yes. For years, we have been learning, practicing, been in training for and just waiting to meet on this exact plain of engagement.

I grew up on the Great Lakes and recognize a seaworthy vessel when I see one. Regarding awakened souls, there have never been more able vessels in the waters than there are right now across the world. And they are fully provisioned and able to signal one another as never before in the history of humankind.

Look out over the prow; there are millions of boats of righteous souls on the waters with you. Even though your veneers may shiver from every wave in this stormy roil, I assure you that the long timbers composing your prow and rudder come from a greater forest. That long-grained lumber is known to withstand storms, to hold together, to hold its own, and to advance, regardless.

In any dark time, there is a tendency to veer toward fainting over how much is wrong or unmended in the world. Do not focus on that. There is a tendency, too, to fall into being weakened by dwelling on what is outside your reach, by what cannot yet be. Do not focus there. That is spending the wind without raising the sails.

We are needed, that is all we can know. And though we meet resistance, we more so will meet great souls who will hail us, love us and guide us, and we will know them when they appear. Didn't you say you were a believer? Didn't you say you pledged to listen to a voice greater? Didn't you ask for grace? Don't you remember that to be in grace means to submit to the voice greater?

Ours is not the task of fixing the entire world all at once, but of stretching out to mend the part of the world that is within our reach. Any small, calm thing that one soul can do to help another soul, to assist some portion of this poor suffering world, will help immensely. It is not given to us to know which acts or by whom, will cause the critical mass to tip toward an enduring good.

What is needed for dramatic change is an accumulation of acts, adding, adding to, adding more, continuing. We know that it does not take everyone on Earth to bring justice and peace, but only a small, determined group who will not give up during the first, second, or hundredth gale.

One of the most calming and powerful actions you can do to intervene in a stormy world is to stand up and show your soul. Soul on deck shines like gold in dark times. The light of the soul throws sparks, can send up flares, builds signal fires, causes proper matters to catch fire. To display the lantern of soul in shadowy times like these - to be fierce and to show mercy toward others; both are acts of immense bravery and greatest necessity.

Struggling souls catch light from other souls who are fully lit and willing to show it. If you would help to calm the tumult, this is one of the strongest things you can do.

There will always be times when you feel discouraged. I too have felt despair many times in my life, but I do not keep a chair for it. I will not entertain it. It is not allowed to eat from my plate.

The reason is this: In my uttermost bones I know something, as do you. It is that there can be no despair when you remember why you came to Earth, who you serve, and who sent you here. The good words we say and the good deeds we do are not ours. They are the words and deeds of the One who brought us here. In that spirit, I hope you will write this on your wall: When a great ship is in harbor and moored, it is safe, there can be no doubt. But that is not what great ships are built for."

Clarissa Pinkola Estes: American poet, post-trauma specialist, Jungian psychoanalyst, and author of Women Who Run With the Wolves.

Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 12:33 PM | Comments (0)

April 22, 2022
In Honor of All Our Fathers

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I wrote the following piece the night my father died three years ago and read it at his funeral three days later. If your dad is still alive, love him today and every day. If you're dad is gone, cherish his memory and all that he taught you. If there's anything you need to forgive him for, today's the day.

Last night, I sat in my father's office attempting to write this eulogy. I started five times and stopped five times. I started again, trying to find the words to describe how it feels to be here without him. I still don't know.

You see, I had a father for 94 years and have only not had a father for three days, so anything I say must be understood as the words of someone only three days old. But still I will try.

Indeed, this trying -- this effort to accomplish the seemingly impossible -- is a gift I've received from my father...

He was the most tenacious person I knew. Ferocious, focused, and fueled by a need to be his own man which he accomplished in countless ways until the very end. To him, it wasn't "my way or the highway," it was "my way or the my way."

I do believe if God had appeared to him as a Burning Bush in his bedroom during the difficult last weeks of his life, he would have advised the Unnamable One to switch from mutual funds to stocks as a way to save on the commission.

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The simplest thing I can say about my father is this: He was a force of nature, a storm of a man.

In his path, things moved. Nothing stayed still. He was primal, persevering, and on fire with the possibility that something good was just about to happen if only you worked hard enough to make it so.

It wasn't always easy being with him, but so what? Easy doesn't always equal good. Being a father isn't always easy. Or being a husband, or a friend, or a rabbi, for that matter.

I became strong because of him and the way I burned in the crucible of his intensity -- able to press through challenges... able to be alone... able to find God, my teacher, my self, my soul mate, and raise two extraordinary children -- who, one day, will have their own chance to reflect on what their daddy meant to them.

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As a young boy, I did not understand my father at all -- why he worked so hard, so late, and so much. It was only later, after I had my own kids, that I understood. He worked so I might play. He worked so I wouldn't have to work in a tannery like he did at 15, joyful only for the times the machines broke down so there might be a few minutes reprieve.

His work, in a curious way, was a kind of prayer -- a way he connected with something beyond himself, a way he tuned into the meaning of service, of giving to others in an unreasonable way -- an experience I would only learn much later in life.

I remember, late at night when I was in bed, hearing the sound of his Volkswagen turning the corner as he approached home. He'd enter my room, open the window, kneel by the bed, and put his head on my chest. Half asleep, I could feel his day's stubble pierce my pajama tops.

It was, at once, both harsh and comforting.

There, in the darkness, we would talk. He'd ask me how my day went and kiss me on the cheek. Then he'd say goodnight, eat dinner, talk with my mother, go to bed, and do it all over again the next day.

I see him now, 50 years later, as a Suburban Samurai -- a man who long ago took a sacred oath he couldn't quite remember, an oath to live a life of principle, purpose, and perseverance.

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He was smart, but I cannot recall him ever reading a book. He just didn't have the time. And even if he did, he'd rather read people which he became very good at.

His BS meter was quite evolved. He could pinpoint a fool at 30 paces and if you were a salesmen trying to hustle him in the middle of his workday you were out the door before he could say "Schmuck, don't even think of coming back."

I didn't always like him. Then again, I didn't always like my high school coaches, either -- all of whom believed in my potential so much that they were willing to be unpopular with me to make a point they knew would move me toward success.

As a college graduation gift, my father gave me a turquoise 1965 Pontiac LeMans convertible. I gave it back a few months later, suspicious of his intentions to control me with his supposed generosity. I actually left the car in his driveway with a heartless note on the steering wheel and then hitched back to where I was living some 500 miles away.

Looking back now, I realize my ability to return that car was the real gift he gave -- the gift of speaking my truth, the gift of being a man of my word to myself, the gift of going beyond the expected and doing what I felt was right -- even if it was unpopular or uncomfortable.

I've never met anyone as generous as the man we have come to celebrate today. He gave more to people than people gave to him. If someone in our family needed something -- a house, a car, a loan -- chances were good he would give it.

My wedding? Paid for by him. The downpayment on my house? A gift from him. A business loan when I was going under? That, too. And the terms? No interest. Pay me back when you can.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not talking about Mother Teresa here. No. My father was sometimes more like Attila the Hun -- but Attila with a twist... and a story... and a joke... and a pearl of wisdom only visible to me when I stopped judging him for being so imperfect.

His generosity wasn't just with our family. In his later years, when he got into Real Estate -- a career, by the way, he mastered -- he'd find a way to help his clients buy houses they could never afford on their own. "The First Bank of Barney," we used to call it. Some of those people are here with us today.

My father's last days were not easy. Always used to being in control, he found it hard to concede to the body's imperfection and the growing need to depend on others for support. Always a giver, now he had to receive. Always the one in charge, now he was the charge of others.

Oy vey.

That was hard for him. But in time, slowly... grunting and groaning... he began to find his way -- a new way, a softer way -- learning the kinds of lessons as he approached death that weren't always accessible to him in the prime of life. Thank God.

No, my father was not perfect, but who in this world is? Who? He was, however, I am happy to say, perfectly himself... a warrior... a teacher... a man of integrity... and for that I am forever grateful.


More about my teacher, here

Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 12:00 AM | Comments (0)

April 11, 2022
THE YEAR OF LIVING CREATIVELY: An Overview

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"Security is mostly a superstition. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing." -- Helen Keller

The Year of Living Creatively is a two-month, online course for anyone committed to manifesting an inspired idea, project or venture and knows they need some support to do so. Click any of the links below for a deeper dive. The next course will begin in September. If you need more info, please contact the creator and facilitator of the course, Mitch Ditkoff (mitch@ideachampions.com)

Overview
Testimonials
An invitation to dive deeper into your own creative process
Who is the course really for?
What is the real value of The Year of Living Creatively?
How to identify your Year of Living Creatively project
The Year of Living Creatively Manifesto
The underground we cover
Entering the movie theater of your own creative process
The self-inquiry pages
The back story -- origins of the course
More about the creator of the course
People's three biggest concerns about enrolling in the course

Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 11:12 AM | Comments (0)

April 05, 2022
The Six Sides of the So-Called Box

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Unless you've been in a coma for the past 20 years, I'm sure you're familiar with the phrase "get out of the box." It's everywhere. Whole industries have sprung up around it, including mine.

No one can deny that getting out of the box is a good thing to do. Seems like a no-brainer, eh? Kind of like helping little old ladies cross the street. Or tearing down the Berlin Wall. But before you start planning your heroic escape, answer me this: What the heck is the box, anyway? What is this so-called thing that keeps us so contained, confined, caged, trapped, claustrophobic, and otherwise unable to create?

Let's start with the basics. A box has six sides, including the top and the bottom.

If we can understand what these six sides are, we'll know what we're dealing with -- and this knowledge will improve our chances of getting out. Or, as Fritz Perls once said, "Awareness cures." Let us proceed...

1. ASSUMPTIONS: Assumptions are the guesses we make based on our subjective interpretation of reality. They are short cuts. Lines drawn in the sand. We end up taking things for granted because we are either too lazy to get down to the root of things or too entranced by our own beliefs to consider an alternative.

Ultimately, it is our assumptions that shape our world. The world is the screen and we are the projector, seeing only what we project -- which is all too often merely a function of the assumptions we've made. As one wise pundit once put it, "When a pickpocket meets a saint, all he sees our pockets." Bottom line, we see what we are primed to see. Change your assumptions and you change the world -- starting with your own.

2. FEAR: If you want to raise the odds of being trapped in a box for the rest of your life, all you need to do is increase the amount of fear you feel. Fear inhibits. Fear paralyzes. Fear subverts action. Indeed, when fear rules the day, even reacting is difficult. Fear not only puts us in the box, it makes it almost impossible to get out the box.

Fear of what? Fear of judgment. Fear of failure. Fear of change. Fear of the unknown. Fear of being revealed to be an impostor. Fear of this. Fear of that. And fear of the other thing, too.

Do you think it's an accident that Peter Drucker devoted his entire life to driving fear out of the workplace? Or course not. Fear sucks. And precisely what it sucks is the life right out of you. There is no box without fear. Get rid of fear and you get rid of the box.

3. POWERLESSNESS: Powerlessness is the state of mind in which people think they have no choice -- that they are victims of circumstance, that the act of attempting anything new is futile.It's why Dilbert has become the patron saint of most cubicle dwellers.

Some in-the-box people have dwelled in the state of powerlessness for their entire life, going all the way back to childhood, overpowered (or disempowered) by parents, schools, and who knows what else.

If you work in an organization, you've seen this powerlessness paradigm in spades -- as the "powers-that-be" don't always take kindly to the ideas, input, and grumblings of the "rank and file." If you're feeling powerless, not only are you in the box, it's highly unlikely that you'll be able to muster the energy, intention, or urgency to get out of it.

4. ISOLATION: Boxes are usually small and confining. Rarely is there room for more than one person. Isolation is the result. There's no one to talk to, no one to bounce ideas off of, no one to collaborate with.

Curiously, solitary confinement is the biggest punishment our society doles out -- second only to the death sentence. Being cut off from the tribe has been a very effective "behavior modification" technique for centuries. When you're in the box, that's exactly what's happening.

And while your isolation may give you a momentary feeling of much-needed privacy, safety, and relief from the judgment of others, it's fool's gold. Sitting in the dark, being completely on your own, vision obscured -- all reduce your chances of getting out.

5. MENTAL CLUTTER:
If you find yourself in the box, it would be fair to say that the box contains you. But what do you contain?

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If you are like most people in today's over-caffeinated, twitterfied, information-overloaded world the answer is: too much. With the amount of information doubling every few years, most of us have way too much on our minds. Too much to do and not enough time. We have no time for musing. No time for pondering. No time for reflecting. No time for contemplating, incubating, or making new connections -- behaviors that are essential to true out-of-the-box thinking.

The result? Not a good one. We latch onto the first seemingly "right idea" that comes our way -- or else desperately try to declutter our minds with an endless series of mindless distractions that only increase the amount of clutter we need to process. Ouch.

6. TUNNEL VISION:
When you're in a box, it's hard to see. Sight lines are limited. Vision is obscured. We become shortsighted. Our vision conforms to that which confines it. We become, soon enough, narrow-minded. I'm sure you know a few people like this. Their ability to see beyond their immediate surroundings has become disabled.

When this kind of phenomenon becomes institutionalized, we end up with a bad case of "next quarter syndrome" -- especially in organizations ruled by the need to constantly please profit-seeking shareholders. Few people are thinking six months out. Few are thinking 12 months out. And almost no one is thinking five years out. Everyone is trapped by the short-term.

What we call "focus" becomes a euphemism for tunnel vision -- just another form of narrow-mindedness that makes getting out of the box about as likely as my credit card company rescinding their usurious late payment fees.

What are some ways you can reliably get out of the box on the job?

Idea Champions

Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 04:44 PM | Comments (2)

Who Are We?

Idea Champions is a consulting and training company dedicated to awakening and nurturing the spirit of innovation. We help individuals, teams and entire organizations tap into their innate ability to create, develop and implement ideas that make a difference.

MitchDitkoff.com
Click here for the simplest, most direct way, to learn more about Idea Champions' semi-fearless leader, Mitch Ditkoff. Info on his keynotes, workshops, conferences, and more.
Storytelling for the Revolution
Storytelling for the Revolution is Mitch Ditkoff's newly published book about the power of personal storytelling to elevate the conversation on planet Earth. Provocative. Evocative. And fun. YOU have stories to tell. This book will help you tell them.
Storytelling at Work
"The world is not made of atoms," wrote the poet, Muriel Rukeyser. "It's made of stories." Learn how to discover, honor, and unpack the stories of yours that show up "on the job" in Mitch Ditkoff's award-winning 2015 book, Storytelling at Work.
Top 5 Speaker
Mitch Ditkoff, the Co-Founder and President of Idea Champions, has recently been voted a top 5 speaker in the field of innovation and creativity by Speakers Platform, a leading speaker's bureau.
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Workshops & Trainings
Highly engaging learning experiences that increase each participant's ability to become a creative force for positive change
Brainstorm Facilitation
High impact certification training that teaches committed change agents how to lead groundbreaking ideation sessions
Cultivating Innovation
Your "best and brightest" are the future leaders of your company, but unless they know how to foster a culture of innovation, their impact will be limited. A one-day workshop with us is all they need to begin this journey.
Our Blog Cabin
Our Heart of Innovation blog is a daily destination for movers and shakers everywhere — gleefully produced by our President, Mitch Ditkoff, voted "best innovation blogger in the world" two years running.
Team Innovation
Innovation is a team sport. Brilliant ideas go nowhere unless your people are aligned, collaborative, and team-oriented. That doesn't happen automatically, however. It takes intention, clarity, selflessness, and a new way of operating.
Awake at the Wheel, Book about big ideas If you're looking for a powerful way to jump start innovation and get your creative juices flowing, Awake at the Wheel is for you. Written by Mitch Ditkoff, Co-Founder and President of Idea Champions.
Face the Music Blues Band The world's first interactive business blues band. A great way to help your workforce go beyond complaint.

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